March 13, 2005

Bingu wa Mutharika, the president of impoverished Malawi, can no longer sleep in the opulent 300-room presidential palace.

"The president is no longer staying there and we have asked clerics from several Christian churches... to pray for the New State House to exorcise evil spirits," said Malani Mtonga, the presidential aide for religious affairs.

Another aide who did not want to be named told the Associated Press: "Sometimes the president feels rodents crawling all over his body but when lights are turned on he sees nothing."